The USask’s Men’s Cross-Country team ends a successful season by capturing the team bronze at the 2024 Canada West Cross Country Championships, for the first time in 22 years. 

On October 26th, the Huskie men’s cross-country team competed in Camrose, Alberta at the Canada West Cross Country Championships. They claimed bronze, with a score of 84 points. Alexander Webster led the team with a 12th place finish, Quincy Fast was right behind him in 13th, Anthony Antaya finished 15th, Kaiden Deck in 18th and Jacob White in 26th. Because of their performance, both Webster and Fast were named Canada West second team all-stars. Additionally, Deck was awarded the Canada West Student-Athlete Community Service Male. 

The women’s cross-country team also had a strong showing, with the team placing fourth. Jaira Cross Child received the Canada West Student-Athlete Community Service Female, and Kaitlyn Harrison and Jenica Swartz were made Canada West first and second team all-stars, respectively. 

Deck, a fourth-year marketing student, joined the USask men’s cross-country team in 2021 with Webster, who is majoring in engineering. Deck and Webster’s journeys with cross-country running started in elementary school, but they progressed to more competitive training in high school when they started training with Jamie Epp, the current lead endurance coach for the Huskies cross-country team.  

Fast, a first-year Master of Physiotherapy student, has been running for over a decade and with the Huskies for 2 years. He jokes, “I got into running because I was the fastest on the soccer team, but I was probably the worst player. So I had to switch to a sport where other people didn’t rely on me as much.”

Before the start of the season, the team had set clear expectations and goals for the season, one of them being to bring home a team medal. Webster says, “We [Huskie men’s cross country team] showed up on day one and knew what our goals and expectations were.”  This is the first time that 16 of the team members hit the time standard to make the team, when in previous years it was around seven which added to the expectation that “this was going to be a group that performs better than they ever have,” explained Webster.

Deck adds that the team has slowly been building towards the goal of having the next podium finish since its last in 2002. He reflects on his first year as a Huskie, which was the first time since 2014 that they scored as a team at the Canada West Championships, placing fifth. They continued to build on this momentum in the subsequent years by placing fourth in 2022 and 2023.  

Along with a clear vision, the team’s training schedule was rigorous and well-planned. The team trained six days a week, alternating between aerobic runs of 50-90 minutes and workouts which included a mix of fartlek, interval, and tempo running. 

Having run this course and knowing how difficult it is, the team made a change to their Saturday hill runs. They decided to drive out to Blackstrap Provincial Park to run those more difficult cross-country ski trails and hills instead of their usual hills in Saskatoon. Webster says, “That’s how badly we wanted that medal. We knew that we needed to do absolutely everything that we could to make sure that on race day we were going to be able to execute what we wanted. So nobody was questioning why we were going to this really difficult training place, because we knew that the pain that it was going to give us was going to help us for when we actually do the real deal on competition dates. It’s symbolic in a way, it shows how much we were willing to change and hone in to hit our goal.”

While the training prepares the athletes for their upcoming races, it also establishes deeper bonding between the team and creates a tight-knit group, which Deck and Fast agree is their favourite part of being on the team. Fast says, “I obviously have a lot of specific moments that I hold great value to, but I think it’s just the everyday aspect… pretty much every week I’m seeing at least one guy on the team to go for a run, and that’s what I value the most about being a Huskie.”

Another instrumental part of the season, according to Fast, was the belief that they could win a medal and that it “never wavered.” Deck agrees, saying, “Long distance running is 100% a game of belief.”

Deck describes the lead up to the Championships, having had no major obstacle, as “a fairytale season.” Webster says, “That’s not just a testament to luck, but that’s a testament to the work that we were doing to stay smart. There’s a lot in running that can go wrong. We had injuries, but that’s expected in the season. It’s the severity of the injuries that really dictate how the season is going to play out. We found ourselves in a case where every single guy who was hurting or dealing with an injury was able to recover and contribute.”

After months of intense training, the Huskies arrived at the Canada West Championships. Fast, describing how he felt after completing the race, says “the immediate finish is always super stressful. You’re trying to find your guys, and you’re trying to do some math on the spot.” This author would like to note that she is amazed that these athletes are performing math calculations after running their 8 km race.

Fast goes on to say, “Alex finished right in front of me, Anthony right behind and then just on the horizon, I [saw] Kaiden and Jacob. These are guys that really stepped up on the day, and they were like a couple places behind us, when usually they’re like 10 or so places behind.” It’s at this moment when Fast figures out the team got bronze. “It’s just an unbelievable feeling watching my teammates finish and knowing that day they pulled through for us.”

Webster agrees with Fast that this was a team effort. “There was no hero and there was no main character on the team. Every single guy had a story’s worth of experiences and decisions that led them to get where they were.” 

He highlights one member’s story, Anthony Antaya, a third-year medical student who “has been with the Huskies for over five years, [and came] back to use up his last few years of eligibility just because he knows how important this goal was and how much he wanted to share it with the team.”

Webster goes on to say “It’s something that I thought maybe only happens in movies or books, where so many guys commit themselves for one goal… for us to have actually got it done, it shows me that things like this actually happen in the real world.” 

Deck adds “It’s also worth noting that we were only half a point off of silver. We even came close to breaking something that we hadn’t even talked about.” 

At the championships, Deck was also recognized for his academic excellence, commitment to community service, and athletic success with the Canada West Student-Athlete Community Service Male award. Deck greatly enjoys volunteering with running groups and has been coaching since 2020. He says “It’s kind of cliche, but you’re making a difference and it’s a good feeling.” 

Deck not only inspires the groups he coaches but also others, saying there is “nothing that compares to running”. He encourages readers to try out running. “When you start running and exercising – when you start giving yourself up to a bigger goal and purpose, it kind of spills over into the rest of your life as well.” He says that running has the potential to not only benefit you physically but can also make you more productive in other areas of your life such as school.  “I encourage [you] to just try it out and see what [can] happen in [your] life because you can never expect what can happen.”

Fast expresses gratitude on behalf of the team towards the people who helped them achieve their goals. “We want to thank our coaches, Jason Reindl, Jamie Epp, and Jared Welsh, for their time, commitment, flexibility, and willingness to go along with our goal setting this year.” It was also a full circle moment for coach Epp, who was part of the last team to bring home the bronze medal from the Canada West Championships, in his fifth year of competition in 2002. 

The team ended the season with their last race on November 9th at the U SPORTS Championships in Kelowna, British Columbia. Webster describes it as “one last hurrah for the season. We showed up and ran really good races…We ended an already successful season with just another good one for the books.”

Now, the team hasn’t hung up their shoes just yet. Deck gives a teaser for the track season, “We [are] hoping to break the Huskie record in the 4 x 800 m, which would be another thing that hasn’t been broken since the 1980s.” To track the huskie endurance athletes’ journey follow them on social media @huskiesendurance and @huskietfcc. 

There is nothing more inspiring than watching everyday people pursue their passions with dedication and grit. This is a resilient team that has faced setbacks over the years, but never wavered in the belief that one day they could bring home the medal. And bring it home they did, in this journey of endurance.